Final-for-now Hillary thoughts

Today's NYT piece by Baker and Cooper (who've been on the HRC beat) addresses some of the questions I raised below about the different positions Obama and Clinton staked out during the campaign:

But the bigger fight between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama was over the issue of talking to Iran, which Mrs. Clinton could soon find at the top of her portfolio. When during a debate Mr. Obama termed "ridiculous" the notion of not talking to adversaries, Mrs. Clinton sharply criticized him, calling that position "irresponsible and frankly naïve."

The difference between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama on the issue is more perception than reality, advisers to both now say. Mr. Obama has said he would have a lower-level envoy do preparatory work for a meeting with Iran's leaders first, and Mrs. Clinton has said she favors vigorous diplomacy and lower-level contacts as well.

"She's not against talking to enemies; it was a question of how it's done," said Martin Indyk, the former United States ambassador to Israel. "That was the critical issue."

Well, so the advisers say now. I saw what some of you wrote about that being just campaign rhetoric and so on. There's always been an argument that Clinton triangulated rightward as a candidate and had genuine instincts that were cautiously more liberal. We shall see.

More interesting still is this little tidbit from the piece:

Mrs. Clinton had to accept that she might never become president, a former aide said. "There's a very small chance that she could run again," he said. "You're not going to be the president, so you want to make sure your next few years, which may be your last in public life, really make a mark."

Why is this true? What prevents her from running in 2016? Let's say for the sake of argument that a) President Obama serves two terms and leaves office on reasonably successful terms, giving the Democrats a good chance to hold the White House, and b) Clinton was a well-regarded secretary of state for say, six years, leaving the job in time to line up a run as Obama's logical successor. I don't see why that's not conceivably in the cards.

And I don't believe she's given up thinking about it. She wants to president. Still.